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It takes a moment for Bobby to remember where he is. His thoughts keep drifting. Skittering away before the memories can fully form. His eyes catch on speckles of dust drifting in the darkness around him. His only light is aimed at the broken ceiling above him. It takes him a bit too long to realize the source is coming from his helmet.
His head aches. The ceiling—no, the rubble above him groans ominously in warning.
How did he end up here?
A cough to his left reminds Bobby that he wasn’t alone. The 118 had been on a call. An earthquake had caused a partial collapse of a small apartment building. Eddie and Chimney were clearing out the top floors. Bobby had kept Buck on the ground floor with him.
The kid had been sick but too stubborn to go home.
Bobby glances to the side. The hasty movement sends his head into a death spin. The world tilting and whirling out of control. His stomach lurches, but he manages to swallow his nausea down.
“Buck?” His throat is dry and the sound comes out cracked.
“Present.” Buck coughs again.
Bobby stares at him in horror. Watching as blood runs from Buck’s mouth like a fountain overflowing. Buck coughs again, harder. Speckles of crimson catch in the yellow beam of Bobby’s headlamp.
“Buck.” Bobby pulls himself up and crowds Buck’s space. He tips Buck’s head, trying to open the kids mouth and check his airways.
“B-Bobby, I’m fine.” Buck protests but is no match for Bobby’s searching hands.
“Your breathing sounds wet.” Bobby mutters and wishes Hen had been with them. She had been treating the victims who had already been evacuated. Hopefully she was safe. Hopefully the others had gotten out.
Selfishly Bobby wishes Hen were there with him and Buck. She’d be able to help Bobby stop Buck from choking on his own blood. “I need to get you on your side—stay with me, kid.”
“Bobby, I’m fine.” Buck struggles as Bobby tries to lower him down. “I bit my lip!” Buck shoves Bobby’s hands away. “I’m fine, Bobby. I swear! I cut my lip pretty bad with my teeth. It’s bleeding so much because of the blood thinners. I’m okay.”
“You’re okay?” Bobby stares, watching more blood slip down Buck’s lips and chin. He looks like an extra from a horror movie. Pale with wide eyes that plead with Bobby to listen.
“I’ll pull my lip down so you can see, okay?” Buck says and strips his gloves from his shaking hands. Bobby’s hands are still wrapped around the sides of Buck’s head as he reaches up and pulls his lips down. Sure enough a large, jagged gash on the inside of Buck’s lower lip seems to be the cause of all the blood.
The sight of the damage doesn’t fully help Bobby relax, not with how much Buck is bleeding, but it is a relief to see that Buck isn’t in danger of having his lungs stop working.
“Sorry.” Bobby doesn’t let go of Buck’s head. His finger brush over Buck’s matted hair gently. Reassuring them both that he’s alive.
“You okay?” Buck asks, clearing his throat a little. He’s probably swallowing a lot of blood. It’ll make him sick, but there’s little Bobby can do to stop the leak. Buck needs stitches. He needs a hospital.
Slowly, reluctantly, Bobby pulls back. He sits on his heels and glances around the room. They need to get out of here sooner rather than later.
“I’ll be better when we get out of here.” Buck whispers, as if reading Bobby’s thoughts.
Bobby blinks, his eyes locking on Buck’s lips as he starts coughing. The kid’s fingers covered in blood.
Panic surges within Bobby. His heart racing at the sight.
“Hang on, Buck!” Bobby cries out, launching himself at Buck.
“Bobby-Bobby I’m fine!” Buck pleads, grabbing at Bobby’s hands to stop him from trying to lay Buck down on his side. “I’m fine, remember? I just bit my lip.”
“What?” Bobby pauses.
“I showed you my lip, remember?” Buck heaves out a breath. He sounds exhausted. “I bit my lip, Bobby. I promise I’m fine.”
“It’s so much blood.” Bobby says after he catches his breath. He squints at the light reflecting off of Buck’s helmet.
“I know.” Buck nods slowly. Carefully. Like he might be in more pain than he wants to let on. The kid has always tried to hide his pain. Bobby sees it. He sees through Buck’s carefully curated masks. His too bright smiles and reassuring laughs. “It’s because of the blood thinners.”
“Not an embolism.” Saying the words out loud doesn’t make it feel real. Bobby reaches up and Buck lets him cup the side of his face. “What can I do?”
“Does your radio work?” The question is tentative. Hopeful. “Mine’s busted.”
Bobby fumbles a bit with his free hand. His other hand remains plastered to the side of Buck’s neck, his fingers resting over his pulse point. Buck’s heartbeat is steady, though quicker than Bobby would like. Then again, they just fell through the floor and into a basement.
“Mine’s broken, too.” Bobby announces after a few attempts to get the thing to work properly.
“We needed new radios.” Buck comments conversationally. “This is the perfect excuse to get the latest models. We’ll-we’ll get out of here, and, and have—” Buck breaks into another coughing fit. Blood spraying through the air as he tries to hold his bloodied hand over his lips.
Bobby feels himself panic again. He tries to pull Buck down to his side. “I’ve got to check your airway,” he rambles as Buck fights him off.
“I bit my lip, Bobby.” Buck says, sounding exhausted. “Remember? I’m okay. Just bleeding. My lungs are fine.”
“Right.” Bobby blinks.
“Did you hit your head?” Buck asks breathlessly. “You keep zoning out. You-you keep forgetting things.”
“Maybe.” Bobby remembers the tremors starting. The floor and how it creaked and rattled and gave way. He remembers the plunge into the darkness—then nothing. Nothing until he woke up and watched the dust swirling around his headlamp. “Yeah. Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay.” Buck swallows and gags a little. He leans over and spits out a glob of something dark. Blood. “Okay—do you know the date?”
Concussion check. Bobby wants to protest, but he stops himself. He answers all of Buck’s questions and that seems to satisfy Buck.
Bobby stares at the fresh blood glistening on Buck’s lower lip. At the mixture of wet and dry blood on his chin and sliding down his neck. “You’re still bleeding.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of an inconvenience. You don’t happen to have any surgical glue?” Buck asks quietly.
“Left it in my other turnouts.” Bobby winces. “How are you doing?” Had he already asked that?
“I’m okay.” Buck winces. “A little dizzy. I got the wind knocked out of me pretty good during the fall. Might have cracked a rib.”
That worried Bobby. Had Buck mentioned those injuries before? “Anything else hurt?”
“Just my lip, really.” Buck swallows thickly and winces again.
“Don’t swallow any more blood, kid.” Bobby tells him. “You’ll get sick.”
“Yeah. Don’t really want to throw up right now.” Buck agrees, but looks weary. “I don’t want to freak you out anymore, either.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Bobby shakes his head and regrets it instantly. He blinks and finds himself leaning against Buck. At first he feels relief. Buck is fine. They are both trapped and injured, but they are going to be okay.
Then Buck starts to cough again. The sound ragged and rough as he wheezes. Bobby snaps his head back and cradles Buck’s face in his hands. “Hang on, Buck.”
Buck tries to speak and blood pours down his chin. He gurgles and gags.
“I can’t lose you, kid. Hold on for me.” Bobby finally gets Buck to lay on his side. He clears Bucks airways the best he can. “Stay with me, Buck. I can’t lose you too, please. Please don’t leave me.”
The world grows dark as Bobby whispers to Buck. His words start out fast, but slow as his head throbs.
Then.
Nothing.
“Bobby?”
The voice pulls him back to the light. He blinks. It feels like his eyelids are glued shut.
“That’s it.” An angel’s voice says. “There you go.”
Bobby blinks until he see’s his wife’s face clearly. Athena. She smiles, holding his hand in both of hers.
“You had me worried there, Captain.” Athena tells him with a flickering smile.
“Sorry.” Bobby apologizes. He tries to relax. Athena is there with him. Everything will be okay as long as she keeps holding his hand.
Except.
“What happened?” Bobby frowns. There was something important he was doing. Something vital.
“You went through the floor of a death trap of an apartment building.” Athena huffs. “But don’t you worry, the owner is in a lot of trouble. He will pay for all the damage he caused.”
“Damage.” Bobby echoes. Fear tickles in the back of his mind.
He’s missing something.
“Bobby?” Athena asks, voice laced with her concern.
“I-I was doing something.” Bobby says slowly. “I-I was with someone. Someone important.”
Athena’s eyes soften. “You were with Buck.”
Flashes of memories arise from the darkness. Shattering his thoughts. A beam of yellow light. Flecks of blood. The deep coughs.
The blood.
“Buck.” Bobby surges upwards. His head spins and his vision darkens dangerously.
“Bobby!”
“Bobby!” A second voice joins Athena. “Hey, hey—you’re okay!”
“Buck?” Bobby forces his eyes open. They fix on Buck. Pale but standing. Hovering close as he helps Athena push Bobby’s body back against the pillows.
“See?” Buck smiles. “You’re okay.”
“You—” Bobby sucks in a sharp breath. “Are you’re okay?”
“I’m good.” Buck stammers, looking surprised at the sudden attention. “I told you I was fine.”
“He has several stitches in his lower lip, a shoulder that was dislocated, a broken rib, and he narrowly missed developing pneumonia.” Athena corrects Buck quickly. “But sure, eventually he will be fine.”
“‘Thena!” Buck pouts, but sighs. “They already discharged me. I’m fine.”
“Mmhmm,” Athena narrows her eyes at him. “Where is your sling?”
Buck’s eyes grow wide. “Oh. Crap.” He hurries out of the room and Bobby can’t help but flinch, wanting to follow him.
“Don’t even think about it.” Athena places a restraining hand on Bobby’s shoulder. “He’ll be back in a moment. I promise.”
“I thought I was going to have to watch him die.” Bobby admits quietly. “I kept replaying the pulmonary embolism in my head. The memory kept overtaking me. Except this time I didn’t have Hen or Chimney or Maddie or Eddie to help save him. It was me. Only me.”
Athena’s eyes mist with unshed tears. “You both kept each other safe until help arrived.”
“I don’t remember that.” Bobby admits.
“Eddie and Chimney managed to dig a path to you both.” Athena tells him. “When they found you, you were covering Buck’s body with your own. You were barely awake, but you kept him alive.”
Fear echoes in Bobby’s heart. He doesn’t remember any of that. “Buck? Was he—”
“Had lost consciousness.” Athena admits quietly. “You kept his airways clear.”
“He’s okay.” Bobby reminds himself, blinking the memory of the blood away.
“He is going to stay with us for a while.” Athena tells Bobby. “Not only so you can keep an eye on him, but so he can keep an eye on you. I think you both need one another.”
“He’s okay with that?” Bobby asks worriedly. He desperately wants to keep Buck close. To be able to see with his own eyes that Buck is alive and breathing.
“Yeah.” Buck answers, reappearing in the doorway of the hospital room. “I kind of invited myself.” He adds sheepishly, his good hand trying to twist the strap of the sling and get it straight.
Athena stands, moving to help him situate the strap so it falls more comfortable across Buck’s chest.
“I didn’t need much convincing.” Athena adds, giving Buck a pointed look. “I think it’s a wonderful idea. It’ll be nice to have all of our kids under the same roof for a little while.”
Buck turns pink and he glances away for a moment. He doesn’t try and fight Athena for lumping him in with her children. The idea that Buck is Bobby’s kid makes his heart soar.
Once his natural complexion returns, Buck’s eyes drift back to Bobby. “You’re okay with that, right?” He swallows thickly. “Me staying with you?”
“Of course.” Bobby inhales deeply and smiles. “There’s no where I’d rather you be.”